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José Mourinho’s team faces the prospect of up to six games in 15 days if they win the Carabao Cup and the Europa League
Last Updated: 08/31/20 2:43 pm
Tottenham faces a possible backlog of matches in September with up to nine games in 24 days if they advance in the Europa League.
Tottenham will enter the Europa League second qualifying round on Thursday 17th September against Lokomotiv Plovdiv after finishing sixth in the Premier League last season. They would have gone straight to the group stage if Arsenal had not beaten Chelsea in the FA Cup final.
With the 2020/21 season tight due to the domino effect of the coronavirus pandemic, the European qualifiers have been reduced to single leg matches.
However, even with that, if Spurs advance to the final two qualifying rounds of the Europa League, they will face the prospect of two games in the same week, two weeks in a row, unless arrangements are made on an already crowded match schedule. .
The EFL has already admitted that some of its first-round matches may need to be rearranged, as the first batch of games is scheduled for Saturday, September 5, which coincides with the first international weekend of the season.
- September 13 – Everton (H)
- September 17 – Lokomotiv Plovdiv (A)
- September 20 – Southampton (A)
- September 22 – Carabao R3 Cup
- September 24 – Europa League Q3
- September 26 – Newcastle (H)
- September 29 – Carabao R4 Cup
- October 1 – Europa League PO
- October 4 – Manchester United (A)
Clubs participating in the European competition will enter next season’s Carabao Cup in the third round as usual, with Tuesday 22 September and Wednesday 23 September scheduled for those matches.
Spurs would face a Europa League third round qualifying game on paper on Thursday 24 September.
If the Spurs overcome both games, they would face the exact same situation the following week, with the fourth round of the Carabao Cup scheduled for Tuesday, September 29 and Wednesday, September 30. The qualifying round of the Europa League play-offs is scheduled for Thursday. October 1st.
When has this happened before?
Aston Villa beat a young Liverpool 5-0 at Villa Park in December, inflicting their first domestic defeat of the 2019/20 campaign.
There have been a few occasions, although unsurprisingly it is not common. The congestion from last season’s matches led Liverpool to eliminate a youth team, led by then-U23 coach Neil Critchley, in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals, where they were beaten 5-0 on the night.
His first team was out of the country at the time in Qatar, before their Club World Cup semi-final clash with Monterrey the following night.
Further back in November 2001, Arsenal and Manchester United met in the League Cup just 24 hours after playing Premier League matches against Charlton and Liverpool respectively. While they both lined up stronger teams in league games, and still lost, Arsenal emerged victorious from a one-sided cup game, demolishing their arch rivals 4-0.
And in 1999/00, United controversially withdrew from the FA Cup just months after lifting the trophy as part of their 3-point season, in order to participate in the Club World Cup, which was being held in Brazil.
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